It is, but those forests are under attack by those who want to “develop our natural resources”. That means building roads and massive logging of the forests. The problem is that with the limited rainfall we have here, it will take perhaps 10 generations for the forest to recover if it ever will.

Exactly. Short-sighted doesn’t even begin to cover it… We’re spending beaucoup $$$ to restore parts of the Everglades now, due to such shortsighted “visions” that forever destroyed the habitats and natural order.

Nearly all of the trails that I use are old Forest Service pack trails and they were created for use by pack strings that would resupply the lookouts. They are all open to hiking or horse traffic. Only a few are really unsuitable for horses.

It is. No two days are exactly the same. Today I hiked a ridge trail about 15 miles from there and found that there are a lot of yellow leaves already and on some hilltops the huckleberry bushes have turned red. Soon there will be the winter’s first coat of snow.

You must be in such a great shape to hike all these mountains top ! 🙂 Your photos are breathtaking, soooo beautiful ! I imagine how beautiful the views must be from these heights, your photos are wonderful but to be there for real is so much better. You live in a wonderful place. It reminds me a little when I was living in Saguenay and used to hike in the mountains and had the views of the beautiful fjord there.

Yes, being there is much better than photos. I wish everyone could! These views are very photogenic. Yesterday I hiked a wonderful high ridge that had great views but they didn’t photograph as well. Perhaps I liked them because I knew the country that I was looking down into. I bet the fjord was beautiful, seen from a mountain top!

Thanks for posting the pictures, I just booked a night at the lookout tower in a couple weeks. I’m looking forward to photographing the stars from up there, hoping smoke won’t be an issue. Can you tell me about the road to the top? My car is low clearance without 4wd, can I still make the drive? Maybe I should have found this out before paying for a night lol.

Hello Kevin,
I hope there won’t be any smoke when you are there. Right now there is a lot of smoke in the Missoula area and some now in Kalispell, but there is none in the Cougar Peak area at the moment.

I haven’t visited Cougar this summer, but as I recall from last year the road was drivable for a car. I remember seeing one coming down as I saw going up. That is in the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District and someone at the ranger station will be able to give you the latest information on the road. Their number is 406-826-3821.